Good week: Swepco

July 20-26

It was a good week for...

SWEPCO. The power company signed a con-fidential settlement of lawsuits challenging the construction of its John W. Turk Power Plant in Hempstead County. The Hempstead County Hunting Club and other plaintiffs have withdrawn their challenges to the plant's air permit and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit for the plant. The settlement means a loss of some financial clout for the plant's opposition, but it does include SWEPCO's abandonment of plans to build a second unit of the coal-fired plant, a victory of sorts for the opposition.

ARTEE WILLIAMS. The director of the state Department of Workforce Services left his post on July 1 and will remain gone until the end of month, at which time he will be reappointed to the position by Gov. Mike Beebe. From then on, he'll draw both his regular pay ($136,601) and retirement pay, which is figured by a formula including years of service and his highest years of pay.

ABDULHAKIM MUHAMMAD. The admitted murderer of a soldier outside a Little Rock military center struck a plea bargain in his trial, which will leave him with a life sentence without parole. The prosecution had sought the death penalty.

It was a bad week for...

FOURTH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS. Two days after he delivered a charged, partisan speech to the Arkansas Democratic Party, Rep. Mike Ross announced that he won't seek re-election to continue representing Arkansas's Fourth District in Congress. That leaves little time for a relatively unknown Democrat to mount a campaign to replace him. Ross cited Washington's dysfunction as a reason for not running. He also left open the possibility of running for Arkansas governor in 2014.

REP. NATE BELL. The Republican state representative from Mena quoted Hitler on his Facebook page. Or at least he thought he did. "As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation" doesn't actually come from "Mein Kampf" as Bell suggested. Still, he stands by the sentiment, he said in a follow-up post.

THE ARKANSAS UNEMPLOYED. The Arkansas unemployment rate in June was 8.1 percent, up from 7.8 percent the month before. The rate is the highest in 24 years.

Speaking of...

Among Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's many conservative crusades are opposition to any government regulation that might produce cleaner air and water and a better environment. But what's the battle really about? /more/

A complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by a Eureka Springs resident, Martha Peine, has produced a $4.2 million refund by SWEPCO to electric customers. /more/

The Guardian reports that American Electric Power has left the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council because of its opposition to action on renewable energy and climate change. This should mean a bit more progressive outlook in Arkansas, but it probably won't. /more/

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has directed the Department of Human Services to terminate Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood. "Termination will be effective 30 days from the date of the letter attached," Hutchinson said in statement. The feds have recently told two other states that this maneuver violates federal law. /more/

At least one Republican lawmaker in South Carolina is calling for the Confederate flag to come down. But as recent history in the Arkansas legislature reminds us, many politicians are still — in 2015 — too squeamish to challenge neo-Confederates. /more/

Southwestern Electric Power Company announced in a news release today that it is dropping plans for a $116 million power line across Northwest Arkansas because the project is no longer needed. It would have covered 60 miles between Benton and Carroll Counties. /more/

Asa Hutchinson will replace Artee Williams as the head of the state Workforce Services Department /more/

KUAF's Jacqueline Froelich has a report on another simmering power line controversy. It concerns a big line proposed by Clean Line Energy Partners to carry wind-generated energy from Oklahoma to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The $2 billion line would cross Arkansas, though the precise route isn't set yet. /more/

Also, drifting away from trump, Hudson's downfall at ASU and more.

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.